Experience Power While Living Between Praise and Promise

This is another supplemental lesson for those of you interested in further study. If you'd like to receive feedback on this lesson simply hit the "reply" button and then Question 1...your answer, Question 2...your answer, etc.

When we come to Revelation chapter 7 we see that it begins with praise and ends with a wonderful promise. Here they are:

Praise:

Revelation 7:9-12 (ESV) After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Question 1. What is this "great multitude which no one can number" wearing and carrying?

"White robes" in the Bible stands for the gift of righteousness that Christ gives us in salvation, (see Isaiah 61:10) and the righteous acts of believers (see Revelation 19:8). In other words, the gift of justification and sanctification.

Question 2. What is this "great multitude which no one can number" praising God for?

The multitude, which is made up of all believers throughout time, is praising God for their salvation. He has loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins, thereby saving us from His wrath, from hell, from sins' penalty and power. Oh how I do lift the name of Jesus high today, for His salvation is thorough and complete!

Promise:

Revelation 7:15-17 (ESV) he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Question 3. Please simply consider the promises of God right now. Which one seems to stand out to you personally, and why?

So we have the praise and the promises in this chapter. But right between these two is where we find power! Right between these two we are shown what it takes to inspire our own praise, and the reason why we can truly trust in God's promises. Let's read it:

Revelation 7:14 (ESV) I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Question 4. What had this "great multitude which no man can number" done to be clean?

Oh friend, here is where all the power is! We who have soiled our garments, dirtied our hands and made our souls unclean have a place to go to wash! It's right there at the cross. That's where we'll find a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's veins. And what happens at that fountain? Sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains!

Jesus Christ, at the cross has shed His blood to forgive us, to wash us clean, to make us white as snow. "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Revelation 1:4 KJV).

But Revelation 7:14 says "They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb". So we can see we have a part in our cleansing. What does it mean to wash our robes and make them white?

It means we have trained ourselves to come to the cross daily and often, and there experience new grace, fresh forgiveness and daily cleansing. We have learned to look by faith unto Christ and receive new love at the cross, for there we see that, like the manna in the wilderness, God's mercies are new every morning.

Question 5. Are you seeing the need and the benefits of going to the cross daily?

Friends when you have time read through Revelation chapter 7. You will see that sandwiched between praise and promise is the power. The power of the blood. In other words, the death of Jesus Christ.

And this amazing death He died for us is what enables our praise. It should go like this: "What? He died for me? The righteous for the unrighteous? He was treated like a criminal that I would be treated like a king? He became sin that I would become righteous? Oh how can it be! Father in heaven, I praise you with all of my heart. I worship and honor you, and love and adore you, for you have loved me unto death! It's too amazing for me to grasp, and I feel as though I want to spend the rest of my life telling others to come and see this amazing sight!"

And each time we come to the cross we are washed again, cleansed again, and taught to praise Almighty God again!

And this amazing death of Jesus is the foundation, or the grounds for God being able to make and keep all His promises.

Here is a thoroughly enjoyable exercise: look at the promises made in Revelation 7:15-17 again, and just think how each one of them can be made and kept because of the cross. I'll do the first one:

Promise: "he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence."

Cross: we can be sheltered by God's presence because Jesus bore God's wrath in our place. Jesus was exiled from God's presence, sent from heaven to earth, where He willingly went to the cross, then rose again so that we could live forever in God's sheltering presence.

Question 6. Now it's your turn. Look again at the remaining promises in Revelation 7:15-17. How is the cross the foundation of God's ability to make and keep these promises? Write your thoughts here:

Notice again how the cross is the foundation, or the grounds of God's promise to graciously give you all things you need: Romans 8:32 (ESV) He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Friend, if you actually did the above exercise it should lead you to a wonderful appreciation for what Christ has accomplished for you on the cross. God's promises are trustworthy.

Between the praise and the promises lie all the power. The cross of Jesus Christ.

Question 7. Please share what you received from this study of God's Word today:

Question 1) The crowd is wearing white robes and carrying palm branches
Question 2) They are praising God for Salvation and for the lamb on the throne
Question 3) The promise that speaks to me right now is the one about never being hungry and thirsty. I'm hungry and thirsty all the time. But this can't be real hunger and thirst for food. I have enough food, I have too much food. I'm way too big but I'm still always hungry and thirsty. I'm tired of this.
Question 4) They got clean by washing up in the blood of the lamb
Question 5) I really do see the need. I like going to the Cross to receive new love, experience new grace and fresh forgiveness. Who in the world don't need that. Food never gives me any of this. No sin does. Just old feelings of guilt and shame; taking my heart to food has just gotten old.
Question 6) I'm not sure
Question 7) I learned that I need to keep asking the Lord to open my eyes to see the Cross.

Yes! These speak of the righteousness of Jesus (white robes) being given to us because of His suffering on the cross, and the victory (Palm branches) that we carry because of His death and resurrection.

Question 2) They are praising God for Salvation and for the lamb on the throne

That's right!

Question 3) The promise that speaks to me right now is the one about never being hungry and thirsty. I'm hungry and thirsty all the time. But this can't be real hunger and thirst for food. I have enough food, I have too much food. I'm way too big but I'm still always hungry and thirsty. I'm tired of this.

Totally understand. Jesus became hungry and thirsty ("I thirst") on the cross in order to quench our hunger and thirst forever.

Question 4) They got clean by washing up in the blood of the lamb

Yes!

Question 5) I really do see the need. I like going to the Cross to receive new love, experience new grace and fresh forgiveness. Who in the world don't need that. Food never gives me any of this. No sin does. Just old feelings of guilt and shame; taking my heart to food has just gotten old.

That's right. When you look up at the cross Denise you see Jesus has denied Himself every pleasure, every desire and every hope being crucified with Him all to forgive you and fill you and give you hope and a future. He loves us so much doesn't He!

Question 6) I'm not sure

OK take just one of them, like the one we talked about above.

‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.--Revelation 7:16

The fact that Jesus can fulfill your every need, providing you with true spiritual food and drink, is because He died in abject thirst. See Him carrying His cross up that dusty and hot hill, after He had been beaten, wearing His crown of thorns. He is nailed to the cross and out of His parched lips comes the words "I thirst!" It was hot and dusty and He had lost a lot of blood and He was thirsty. But more than that Denise. He has entered into our condition of "thirsting." That is, of being unsatisfied, always wanting more, craving and yearning. His simple phrase "I thirst" has more meaning than merely having parched lips and a dry throat. No He has entered into our condition, thirsting like we do, always craving more.

And He did this for us Denise. He thirsted so He could quench your thirst. He yearned and craved so that your desires would all be met in Him. The cross is His promise to you to meet your needs, to fulfill your desires, to quench your thirst spiritually, so that you would be full and satisfied.

Isaiah 55:1-2 (NIV) Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.

Question 7) I learned that I need to keep asking the Lord to open my eyes to see the Cross.